SCHENECTADY — There weren't a lot of style points for Shaker's offensive unit Friday on the road against Schenectady, but the Blue Bison pulled it together when faced with adversity and with the game on the line against the upset-minded Patriots.

After falling behind 14-0 early in the game, the Shaker offense came alive in the second half and the defense came to the rescue all night as the Blue Bison remained undefeated with a hard-fought 21-14 win over the Patriots in a Class AA Liberty Division game at Larry Mulvaney Field.

Shaker overcame five turnovers and took its first lead of the game on Kenny Jackson's three-yard touchdown run with 2:17 to play in the fourth quarter before the defense came up with a stop in the final minute to secure the win.

"I'm very happy with how the kids responded in the second half. Schenectady is a very good football team," Shaker coach Greg Sheeler said. "Our kids believed in the system and did a great job."

After stopping Schenectady on downs with 7:46 to play in the fourth, Shaker marched down the field on a 10-play, 72-yard drive, highlighted by quarterback Chris Landers' 18-yard run to midfield on third down. Jackson capped the drive with his touchdown run.

"We told the offensive line that we were following them on that last drive," Landers said. "Our defense won this game tonight, it is all on them."

Schenectady (2-2 overall, 1-2 Liberty Division) struck quickly in the first period, scoring on the opening drive of the game when Felix Rodriguez caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Kwame Jarvis to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

One play after Schenectady's Trent Wheeler jumped on a loose ball on the ensuing kickoff at the Shaker 13-yard line, Jarvis connected with Jeremy Kent for a touchdown to give Schenectady a 14-0 lead before Shaker ran an offensive play.

"We started off hot, we had some good series," Schenectady coach Jim Kramer said. "All I ask is they work hard and they did that tonight."

Landers scored on Shaker's first possession of the game to cut the deficit to 14-7 and the Blue Bison were turned away from the tying score when Hassan Rainey intercepted Landers in the end zone on the final play of the first half.

Shaker tied the score on the last play of the third period when Landers rolled to his left and spotted Ryan Griffin in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown pass.

Schenectady's Alex Phann put his team in position to score twice in the second half when he intercepted Landers in Shaker territory but the Blue Bison defense stiffened each time.

Despite allowing 209 yards passing to Jarvis and 86 yards rushing to Rainey, the Shaker defense stopped Schenectady five times on fourth down in the game, including Griffin's interception — the third Schenectady turnover of the game — at the Shaker 13-yard line with less than a minute to play to seal the win.